School Asbestos Threat Is Overstated, Study Says

The asbestos fibers commonly found in most schools do not pose a
health hazard to students and school workers, a new study
concludes.

The study, which was published in the Jan. 19 issue of the journal
Science, calls into question the 1986 federal law that required schools
to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on inspections and
asbestos-control and -removal projects.

The study, conducted by a University of Vermont researcher and four
colleagues at other institutions, re4views other scientists' work on
asbestos. They conclude that inadequate scientific research and
misguided attempts to regulate the problem have led to an "asbestos
panic."

Asbestos, which has been used in the manufacture of more than 300
common building products, has been linked with lung cancer and other
deadly respiratory diseases. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
has estimated that about one-third of the nation's more than 100,000
school buildings contain fri8able, or damaged, asbestos.

The agency has estimated that it will cost schools more than $3
billion to comply with the law. Others, including the National School
Boards Association, have said that it will take at least twice that
figure to bring schools into compliance.

The study's authors conclude that "published risk estimates show
that the risks of asbestos-related deaths ... due to exposure in
schools are magnitudes lower than commonplace risks in modern-day
society."

They said that most studies have focused on asbestos workers, and
not on those only marginally exposed to the fibers, such as students
and school workers.

According to the study, laws designed to control asbestos in schools
have not distinguished between two types of asbestos fibers:
amphilibole, which are more likely to be deadly, and chrysotile, which
are commonly found in products used in schools. Chrysotile fibers are
thought to be less likely to penetrate the lung.

"Panic has been fueled by unsupported concepts such as the
'one-fiber theory,' which maintains that one fiber of inhaled asbestos
will cause cancer," the report states.

The report echoes the opinions voiced by asbestos-industry groups
over the years that unfounded concerns about asbestos have led to many
unneccessary removal projects. Such projects can disturb the fibers,
the study concludes, and can be harmful to both asbestos workers and
building occupants.

In its regulations for the 1986 law, the epa acknowledged such risks
and advised schools not to remove undamaged asbestos.--ef

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